1. Field of the Invention
In a water purification treatment, water is flowed through a vessel around a plurality of parallel ultraviolet transparent tubes. Each tube contains a mercury vapor lamp which emits bacteria destroying ultraviolet radiation.
This invention pertains to liquid purification lamps, more particularly to a connector assembly designed for electrically connecting to a mercury vapor ultraviolet lamp and for removing the lamp from a tube of a water treatment tank.
2. Description of the Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 5,030,125, patented Jul. 9, 1991 by Toma et al., describes an elongated cylindrical ultraviolet lamp envelope positioned in an ultraviolet transparent elongated quartz cylindrical tube that extends the length of a cylindrical casing of a water treatment unit. The envelope terminates in a conventional electrical pin at each end of the envelope.
At one end of the envelope, a terminal at the end of a wire lead engages the electrical pin. The wire lead extends through an elastic boot or cap that extends a short distance, cylindrically, sealingly, between the lamp envelope and the quartz tube. A threaded retainer cap contacts the elastic boot axially and is threaded onto an O-ring sealing collar that surrounds the end of the quartz tube, so that the retainer cap prevents axial movement of the lamp and the elastic boot cylindrical seal out of the quartz tube.
At the other end of the envelope, a similar terminal, boot and O-ring seal are mounted on the quartz tube. The threaded retainer cap at the other end further includes an axial spring inside the cap that bears against the boot, urging the boot and electrical pin that it contains, toward the end of the lamp envelope so that electrical contact between the pins and the electrical contacts at each end of the lamp envelope is maintained in spite of any vibrations occurring in the water treatment unit.
The lengths of the cylindrical casing, quartz tube, lamps and boot and terminal assemblies are so selected so as to leave a gap within the retainer cap between the boot and the O-ring sealing collar to allow for axial biasing.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,540,848, patented Jul. 30, 1996 by Engelhard, describes an ultraviolet water purification canister which includes an ultraviolet lamp envelope having parallel electrical pins extending from one end of the envelope. The lamp is mounted in an ultraviolet transparent quartz tube that is closed at one end. Mounting of the lamp in the tube is provided by the pin containing end of the lamp extending from the open end of the tube, the pins being plugged axially into a lamp energizer circuit box that is mounted in a removable base of the canister.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,039,460, patented Mar. 21, 2000 by Ng et al., describes a quartz tube or sleeve, liquid tight sealed to and spaced from a threaded collar on a mounting plate of a water purification tank wall by a compression nut and 0-ring on the collar, through which the tube extends into the tank. An elongated cylindrical ultraviolet lamp that extends into the tube is held parallel to and spaced from the cylindrical wall of the tube by lock tabs that extend radially from an end cap of the tube which are axially inserted into upwardly open lobes in the compression nut and threaded xc2xcturn down into the end of the compression nut when the lamp is inserted into the nut and turned xc2xcturn. A terminal connector button having metal lined axial apertures for receiving axial terminal pins that extend from an end of the ultraviolet lamp is mounted on the lamp pins and is captured on the end of the lamp and on the end of the compression nut by a retainer cap that is screwed onto the compression nut and that bears on a radial annular shoulder that extends from the base of the button. The axial apertures in the button also receive wire for powering the lamp. The wire passes through a cover cap that screws onto the button.
It is one object of the invention to provide an electrical connector assembly for one end of an elongated lamp envelope or shell.
It is another object of the invention to provide a high voltage connector assembly for a gas discharge tube.
It is another object of the invention to provide a high voltage connector assembly for a low pressure mercury vapor gas discharge elongated cylindrical lamp envelope, that is designed to slip with the lamp envelope into an ultraviolet transparent tube in a water purification treatment tank.
It is another object of the invention that the high voltage connector assembly designed to slip with the lamp envelope into an ultraviolet transparent tube in a water purification tank contains a male plug that receives one end of the lamp envelope and is permanently fastened thereto, and a female socket that removably locks onto the male plug so that the lamp envelope and plug can be removed from the transparent tube by wires attached to the female socket.
A high voltage connector assembly for an ultraviolet lamp sealed gas discharge envelope includes a plug and a socket, the plug comprising:
a first electrically non conductive body comprising a front, a back and a first axis extending through the front and the back, a first opening in the front configured for receiving the first end of the envelope, a lateral first shoulder, spaced from the front of the first body, a first electrically conductive terminal post, extending backward axially from the first shoulder, spaced from the first axis, having a front end adapted for electrical connection to an electrical conductor of the gas discharge tube when the first end of the envelope is in the first opening, and a back end, a first wall extending backward axially from the first shoulder adjacent to and spaced from the first terminal post, a lateral second shoulder on the first wall, spaced back from the back end of the first terminal post, a second electrically conductive terminal post, extending axially from the second shoulder, spaced from the first axis and from the first post, having a front end adapted for electrical connection to an electrical conductor of the gas discharge tube when the first end of the envelope is in the opening, a back end, and a lateral protrusion on the back end of the second terminal post,
the socket comprising:
a second electrically non conductive body comprising a front, a back and a second axis extending through the front and the back, a lateral third shoulder, spaced from the back of the second body, a second wall extending axially forward from the third shoulder, spaced from the second axis, a first passageway in the back of the second body extending axially through the third shoulder spaced from the second axis, a wall of the first passageway extending from the third shoulder in a groove in the second wall axially along the second wall, first electrical contact slidably mounted in the first passageway and the groove, first means in the first passageway for urging the first electrical contact toward the front of the second body, a second passageway in the back of the second body extending axially through the third shoulder, spaced from the second axis and from the first passageway, comprising a lateral fourth shoulder behind the third shoulder, a second electrical contact slidably mounted in the second passageway, second means in the second passageway for urging the second electrical contact toward the front of the second body;
the first terminal post, second terminal post, first passageway and second passageway being so configured that when the plug is placed on the socket with the first and second axes in alignment, the first post axially on and axially depressing the first electrical contact, the second post axially on and axially depressing the second electrical contact, the protrusion can be rotated around the first axis under the fourth shoulder.